Publications

04 Jun 2001
Research & Ideas

RealNetworks, CNET, and Judo Strategy

will help make you a winner." Glaser's success story in fending off intense competition from Bill Gates & Co. and turning his seven-year old company into a prime purveyor of streaming video, audio, and music services on the Web... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Aisner

09 Mar 2020
Research & Ideas

Warring Algorithms Could Be Driving Up Consumer Prices

antitrust authorities, who fear they could ultimately harm consumers by raising prices above typical competitive levels. It doesn’t seem too long ago when a price change was a major strategic decision for companies, requiring extensive data analysis, management... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Retail

16 Nov 2016
Research & Ideas

Turning One Thousand Customers into One Million

Among them are low setup cost, allowing companies to start advertising for as little as $10 a day; precise targeting—to specific demographics, or based on life events such as birthdays or similarity to... View Details

Keywords: by Thales S. Teixeira and Michael Blanding; Retail; Transportation; Accommodations

28 Nov 2007
Research & Ideas

B2B Branding: Does it Work?

cheerleader, loves the brand heritage, and is a great storyteller. The CMO sees his or her purpose as helping the CEO achieve this role. The CEO understands that building brand reputation reduces commercial risk, insulates the company in... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch; Consumer Products

18 Sep 2017
Research & Ideas

'Likes' Lead to Nothing—and Other Hard-Learned Lessons of Social Media Marketing

marketers are feeling pressure to show ROI.” Still, since those first Facebook ads were posted in 2004, social media has proven itself a valuable tool for helping companies create consumer perceptions about particular brands (Old Spice)... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Advertising; Advertising

29 Nov 2022
Research & Ideas

Is There a Method to Musk’s Madness on Twitter?

Since Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, purchased Twitter for $44 billion last month, the company has undergone a series of abrupt shifts. Some changes, like Musk’s firing of 50 percent of the firm’s 7,000 employees, were deliberate.... View Details

Keywords: by Christina Pazzanese, Harvard Gazette; Technology

May 2025
Case

Initial Financial Statements at Blank Corporation: Bridging Content and Commerce

By: Jung Koo Kang, Panje Jayden Kim and David Allen

This accounting case is intended to teach students how to compile an income statement, a balance sheet, and a cash flow statement. It focuses on Blank Corporation, an innovative South Korean company that bridged content and commerce by selling products directly through... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Financial Statements; Business Startups; Social Media; Advertising; Digital Marketing; Consumer Products Industry; South Korea

May 2020 (Revised July 2022)
Case

Brand Storytelling at Shinola

By: Jill Avery, Giana M. Eckhardt and Michael B. Beverland

Detroit, Michigan, aka “The Motor City,” is most known as the birthplace of most of the American classic automotive brands. It is a city filled with the rich history of the industrial age, the pride of American manufacturing, and of the soulful sounds of Motown music.... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Brands and Branding; Marketing Communications; Advertising; Luxury; Consumer Products Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Retail Industry; Detroit; United States; North America

09 Dec 2002
Research & Ideas

Unilever—A Case Study

States in the twentieth century. After 1945 Unilever's once successful business in the United States began to decline, yet the parent company maintained an arms-length relationship with its U.S. affiliates, refusing to intervene in their... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones; Consumer Products; Entertainment & Recreation; Food & Beverage; Manufacturing; Retail

July 2021 (Revised February 2022)
Case

Mary Kay Inc.: Enriching Women's Lives while Embracing Change

By: Elie Ofek, K. Shelette Stewart and Julia Kelley

In December 2020, Mary Kay Inc. Chief Marketing Officer Sheryl Adkins-Green considered several strategic dilemmas. Founded in 1963 by Mary Kay Ash, Mary Kay was a direct sales company whose Independent Beauty Consultants purchased its beauty and cosmetics products at... View Details

July 2022 (Revised August 2022)
Case

Athletic Brewing Company: Crafting the U.S. Non-Alcoholic Beer Category

By: Ayelet Israeli and Anne V. Wilson

Athletic Brewing Company (“Athletic,” for short) was founded by Bill Shufelt and John Walker in 2017. In creating Athletic, Shufelt and Walker opened the first U.S. brewery and taproom fully devoted to the production of non-alcoholic (NA) craft beer. By 2021, Athletic... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Brands and Branding; Product Development; Product Marketing; Product Positioning; Product Launch; Product Design; Product; Competition; Marketing; Entrepreneurship; Growth Management; Cultural Entrepreneurship; Culture; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

September 2007
Case

Metro International S.A.

By: Tarun Khanna, Felix Oberholzer-Gee, Vincent Marie Dessain, Ane Damgaard Jensen and Anders Sjoman

Explores the business model of Metro International, a company publishing 70 editions of its free newspaper in 20 countries. Metro had been a pioneer in the free newspaper market, fighting incumbent publishers distributing traditional paid-for newspapers. Looks at the... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Digital Marketing; Advertising; Expansion; Globalized Firms and Management; Journalism and News Industry; Spain

Find at Harvard

17 Jan 2024
HBS Case

Psychological Pricing Tactics to Fight the Inflation Blues

Many consumers recovering from the worst inflation in 40 years continue to closely watch their spending—they want to know that every expense is worth it. Now companies must confront a major challenge: gauging how much, if any, of their... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald; Consumer Products; Retail

November 2021 (Revised December 2021)
Supplement

PittaRosso (B): Human and Machine Learning

By: Ayelet Israeli

This case supplements the "PittaRosso: Artificial Intelligence-Driven Pricing and Promotion" case, and provides major highlights on what happened at the company since the first case. View Details

26 Nov 2012
Research & Ideas

New Winners and Losers in the Internet Economy

Direct employment in the US Internet ecosystem has doubled in those four years, with 1 million new jobs added to the million that already existed in 2007, according to a recent study commissioned by the Interactive Advertising Bureau,... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Publishing

08 May 2012
First Look

First Look: May 8

Peter A. Coles, Elena Corsi, and Vincent DessainHarvard Business School Case 912-022 French advertising company JCDecaux and the city of Paris jointly developed Vélib', a wildly popular bicycle sharing... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

11 Sep 2000
Research & Ideas

Riding the Internet Fast Track

such as Amazon.com, drugstore.com, E*Trade, and Priceline.com, firms that unflinchingly invest millions of dollars in advertising and promotion each year to rapidly build traffic and revenues. The high-octane fuel that these super trains... View Details

Keywords: by Peter Jacobs

September 1991 (Revised December 1991)
Case

G. Heileman Brewing Co. (A): Power Failure At PowerMaster

By: Stephen A. Greyser

In June 1991, Heileman announced plans to introduce a high-alcohol malt liquor under the name PowerMaster (PM). Although the company claimed PM would be positioned as an upscale product and marketed on the basis of its superior taste, minority advocates and alcohol... View Details

Keywords: Advertising Campaigns; Ethics; Lawfulness; Brands and Branding; Product Positioning; Demand and Consumers; Market Entry and Exit; Food and Beverage Industry